


aim and release

by Balthuza



Series: spindleweed and elfroot smoke [8]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: M/M, Phantom pain, Post-Tresspaser, crossbow is not a bow, dealing with things, one handed archer is not an easy thing to become, poor var
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-06
Updated: 2017-08-06
Packaged: 2018-12-11 21:04:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 247
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11722533
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Balthuza/pseuds/Balthuza
Summary: He hates the crossbow.





	aim and release

Herbert Trevelyan belongs to [Liryczna](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Liryczna/)

 

He hates the crossbow. Every time he looks down it is there like a bad dream, every time he shoots and hits, and reloads it feels like he's incomplete, a pretender, a ghost. He knows that Dagna, that everybody, tried their best, but with every bolt he feels like crying, a memory of _draw, aim, release_ repeating in his head, the muscles he no longer has yearning to stretch and relax.

He knows they don't hurt, they cannot hurt and tells himself that every time he wakes up in the middle of the night, feeling the arm he no longer has _burn_.

When they lead him to the undercroft, he expects nothing, and when Sera smiling like a maniac hands him his own quiver it feels like a cruel joke, punching him right in the gut. But then there are Herbert’s warm hands on his back, gently prying off the prosthetic and Dagna’s quick fingers attaching something else, then pushing the bow he knows better than his own hand into it, and for a moment hope he unlearned by now makes him speechless. Then they explain, Dagna getting in between Herbert's words, and Sera beaming unrepentant next to them and Varven breaks down.

Later, much later, he pulls the first arrow and misses by a mile, and he can't remember ever being this happy.

This night he tries to sneak the bow into the bed, sans the string, and Herbert only snorts.


End file.
